comment on

Some of the perl web-application frameworks do use a mapping from apache handlers to perl subs... or with some other sort of callback magic. I think maypole does that, CGI::Application also does.

If you want a request to call a sub, you just need a dispatch table keyed by page name, or id

#use strict unless untested_code;

use Template;
use CGI qw/header/;
print header;

# hash of subs that return 2 element list of page title and page conte
+nt.

my %title_and_content_for = (
 #  about_us => \&MyModule::get_about_us_html,
    '/quick_hack' => sub { 
        return (
            'this is a quick, nasty hack',
            'some junk to go in the page'
            )
        },
    # ...
);

my %template_variables = (
   # the default is to complain, this will be replaced below
   title => 'Oh noes!',
   content => q[ I couldn't find the page you asked for ],
   # add other stuff to keys in %template_variables

);

my $html_layout = q{
<html>
  <head><title>[% title %]</title></head>
  <body>
  [% content %]
  </body>
</html>
};

# call the sub for this page, if there is one.
# assign the results of the sub to the keys "title" and "content"
@template_variables{title,content} = 
       $title_and_content_for{  $ENV{ PATH_INFO }  }->()
if defined $title_and_content_for{  $ENV{ PATH_INFO }  };

# and feed the whole lot to Template toolkit
my $TT = Template->new()
              or die $TT->error();
$TT->process(\$html_layout,\%template_variables) 
              or die $TT->error();
[download]

Now we view http://mysite.com/cgi-bin/sub-madness.cgi/quick_hack and if all goes according to plan (and my untested-make-it-up-on-the-spottery is as good as I think it is) you'll get a nice little html page that reads "some junk to go in the page".

I've cheated a little, and stuffed most of the HTML generation into places you can't see, the subs on one hand, and Template::Toolkit on the other

Other interesting this to do:

Perhaps want to have some kind of http/404 headers too?
Generating a navigation bar from the keys of the hash could be a fun exercise ...
Passing in a CGI instance to the subs could make for user-activated stuff, allowing foo.com/sub-madness.cgi/about_us?action=contact&from_email=f00li5h@example.com&question=....
It may also be good to add a default page, for when no page is requested... but you're getting mighty close to the page dispatching that your web server should be doing tat that point.

Update

use Template; use CGI; print header all added post creation

@_=qw; ask f00li5h to appear and remain for a moment of pretend better than a lifetime;;s;;@_[map hex,split'',B204316D8C2A4516DE];;y/05/os/&print;

In reply to Re^3: Multiple Pages with CGI by f00li5h
in thread Multiple Pages with CGI by Trihedralguy

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